The Binyamina Rebbe, Harav Yosef Yehoshua Taub, passed away Tuesday morning in Netanya’s Laniado Hospital at the age of 92 after being in and out of hospital for several months. He had been recently hospitalized in critical condition.
Harav Yosef Yehoshua Taub was born in what was then Czechoslovakia to a noted rabbinic family. His grandfather H'yd was a brother of the Arugas Habosem (renowned scholar called by the name of his work) and his great-grandfather was the Brider Rebbe. He was raised and educated in a very warm hassidic atmosphere, in keeping with his background.
After suffering with all of Hungarian Jewry in the Holocaust, where he lost his maternal grandfather, parents and two younger brothers Hy"d in Auschwitz, he and his remaining four brothers and one sister were determined to maintain and perpetuate their parents' mesorah (heritage). Three of the brothers became renowned hassidic rabbis, one Rabbi Aaron Taub zt"l, the Haleiner Rebbe and head of a rabbinic court (Av Beit Din) whose Beit Midrash was in Boro Park and the other Rabbi Amram Taub zt"l, the hassidic Rebbe of Baltimore, Maryland.
When he married his wife, Rebbetzin Frieda, z"l, who died in 2012, he lived and breathed the traditions and customs of his forebears and successfully raised an exemplary family of ten truly observant children and many grandchildren and great grandchildren..
Rabbi Taub lived for a while in America, where he was successful in bringing many people back to observant Judaism. Eventually, he felt that he could accomplish more in Eretz Yisrael, and moved to settle in the Holy Land as Rabbi pf Binyamina, a town in the Sharon area of Israel near Pardes Hanna. He authored the Sefer Yaldei Kodesh ve-Hu Tikkun Leil Shemirah Kodem Ha-Milah, on traditional customs and prayers to be said before a child's circumcision, available in Hebrew at Amazon.
Rabbi Taub was known for welcoming any and all Jews to his home, rich or poor, religious and secular, from whatever background. His home and the nearby Beit Midrash were always filled with people coming for his sage advice and blessings, from shidduchim (matchmaking) to business problems as he was considered a baal mofes, someone who has a deep, mystical understanding of the essence of things . His home was open to all.
Although in later years he moved to Malchei Yisrael Street in the haredi neighborhood of Geula in Jerusalem, he continued his open house, was known for his sermons.and taught his children to continue in his footsteps, which they did. A family member told Arutz Sheva that "he combined Torah, Yiras Shomayim (fear of G-d) and unmatched Ahavas Yisrael (love of Jews)".
Rabbi Taub passed away Tuesday morning, surrounded by family. His funeral began in Kiryat Sanz in Netanya Tuesday afternoon, and continued from his Beit Midrash to Jerusalem's Har Hamenuchot cemetery, where he was laid to rest.
May his memory be blessed.